Bumble Beeing: On Story-telling, Science, & Magic at 3,000 m

Bumbling...

Holding her gun with a big grin, a woman shoots a round of bullets into the mountain mist. I scream and dive under a log. Around me, my hosts laugh. “What are you doing Buket Hanim?” they tease. Although the sight of me squeezing under a log is funny, they kindly put away the gun, and coax me out from my hiding place.

We are at the edge of Turkey, on a 3,000 m high mountain crest somewhere between Savsat, Macahel, and Georgia. My hosts, 20 or so village people from Camili, have taken me into the mountains for a day of driving trucks, grilling meat, loving nature, and telling stories. The time that foreigner dove behind a log is quickly becoming a new favorite.

Although the gunshots send me running, I feel safer here than I do in most cities. My hosts are kind beyond all belief, and they eagererly make me feel at home, high in the icy breath of Turkey’s mountains. They wave a chunk of cheese near my log and lure me out from my hiding spot. Within minutes, a feast is perched on a tray on my lap. The adjectives thick, creamy, white, stringy, boiled, dried, pungent, spongy, yellow, and salty rearrange themselves in front of dairy and corn, resulting in every variety of cheese, yogurt, and bread. Everything is so fresh, it tastes as though it was milked from the clouds. Shaking from the cold, I effortlessly down thousands of calories in hopes that warmth will follow.

Mist passes through my body, and upon hitting the thick wall of cheese and bread in my stomach, it leaves a wake of shivers and goose bumps on my arms. I stare: at the ghost figures of clouds transforming around me, at the goats’ horns curling into question marks above their heads, at the exotic flowers whose sheer existence in this land of extremes is a miracle.

I have had a creeping suspicion over the last few months that I have fallen into a world where magic is infused into reality. Where science, folklore, and tradition are welded together to create a reality that puts “super” before natural. The locals spend all afternoon telling me stories that confirm my feelings. They describe the visions they have had while napping next to the valley’s sacred rocks, and how a famous eight-year-old boy in the village can accurately predict weather, more than 10 days in advance.

Here in my world of super natural, the cold, the shaking, and the altitude make me think of another local anomaly, the Bombus terrestris, otherwise known as the Bumblebee. The Bumblebee can survive at higher altitudes and colder climates than any other known eusocial insect. Scientists have observed these insects as far north as Ellesmere Island in the arctic circle, and recorded successful flight in air chambers simulating conditions at 9,000m (29,528 ft) above sea level (note: this is higher than the Mount Everest summit – 8,848m). While the Homo sapien consumes copious amounts of cheese and bread to stay warm, the Bombus has learned to harness the power of shivering to warm its muscles, enabling it to fly in very cold climates. Although cocktail party banter has challenged the Bombus’ ability to fly, calling its flight “beyond scientific explanation,” research in 2003 proved that Bombus just has a superior understanding of viscous fluid dynamics. And if science doesn’t present a convincing enough case regarding the incredible abilities of the Bombus, story-telling has forever forged a connection between Bombus and magic. The bumblebee is the inspiration behind the name of Albus Dumbledore, one of the most powerful wizards of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series as the word “Dumbledore,” meant bumblebee back in 1875.

After lunch, we drop over the pass to visit another village and pick blueberries. Nestled in the bushes, I hear the comforting hum of the Thoracobombus,a Bumblebee subspecies unique to Turkey. Looking at the houses around us, it’s hard to imagine that people live here. In some ways, their existence reminds me of the life of the Bombus. Both require hardy survival skills, and inspire stories of magic and mystery.

Camili’s yayla, so beautiful.

I’m posing here like a tough KIZ, but maybe you can tell by my face, I am freezing. Someone play horon with me please!

Our mangal camp!

First they carve the meat, then they carve the sticks, next up is the shish feast.

Lunch time.

Fire, shish, trucks. Yea!

While the others feast on barbequed meat, I indulge in my veggie stables: three different kinds of cornbread and cream, yogurt, dried yogurt, two types of cheeses…

Mountain flora.

Findikli Yaylasi.

Waterfalls on the way up to the mountains.

Just a man, his tractor converted into a waterproof pick-up, and his awesome goat. My favorite kind of mountain traffic.

Love this post, Kat. Reminds me of a visit I made to a mist-shrouded mountain in Catalunya, Spain. And the yayla wildflowers are so gorgeous in Turkey. This summer we made our annual trek to my in-laws’ yayla near Trabzon. I hadn’t ever been there in June and was thrilled to see the wildflowers in bloom. My mother-in-law said they tried to count the different varieties and finally stopped at 54! So lots of happy bees there. :-)

Hi Emily, I am going to guess that you are right about the ram! When I was writing the post, I was translating from Turkish, I had wrote down koyun, thought that was wrong and went for goat instead…it was a koc!

Hi, great blog and what a great bold life you have. I really like your meal’s photo, imagining three different corn bread and dried yoghurt … hmmm more appealing for me than meaty ones.
Congrats in being freshly pressed.http://kisahmayang.com

Beautifully written. Having kept bees for 8 years in Colorado and now living at around that 3,000m elevation most of our bees are of the bumble variety and we are always amazed at finding them active when no other insects are moving. Congrats on being Freshly Pressed.

I wish our goats here look like those in your pictures. I’ve never seen such beautifully twisted horns in real life ever… Glad that the camera was invented. Lol! Anyway, great adventure you have in there!

What a lovely post ! Bees were used as a symbol of courage by Roman soldiers. It was with this in mind that I added a bee to my tattoo :) The bee seems to be a good choice for someone brave enough to travel such as yourself. Looking forward to more.

This has definitely made it onto my ‘must visit’ places list. There is just something inherently elevating about ascending mountains, and the thought of cheese at the top would be a good motivator! Lovely and alluring piece.

That’s great! My team in Kars is starting an ecotourism program that is building a trail system and homestay program for people to trek the route from Kars… if you are interested stay-tuned…and the great news is that there will be food tasting all along the route :)!

The information about the Bumblebee is fascinating, I’ve always really have loved the insects and can’t help but to stop and watch them on their run for food and flowers. Your pictures are amazing too, I especially love the man and his goat with the crazy horns!

What a fascinating adventure you’re on! Really enjoyed your post, and your photos are wonderful! . . . Great to see a different side of Turkey! I’ve read lately that honey bees are disappearing, which could create challenges for the ecosystem. Congratulations on being “Freshly Pressed”!

“‘harnessing the power of shivering to warm its muscles'” I really like this line….but your entire article….L-I-K-E***….Your sense of prose is warming…Because of your article, this place, somewhere between Savsat, Macahel and Georgias…is definitely a place I would like to visit.

this is FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!! visited Italy and went and lived with the locals, this reminds me of it, don’t need much..simplistic living, awesome memories and must say you captured your adventure (for us) so incredibly, don’t want to take from that..yet must add..nothing like coming back home to OUR BEDS! hehe

Congratulations on bee-ing Freshly Pressed! I read this one first, which drew me into four others, then finally back here so I could comment on what an awesome spirit you have. Really, Cat…these posts are addictive (in a totally good way). Your writing is hilarious, insightful and informative, and the pictures are breathtaking. Thank you for sharing this journey.

I love bees so much! I never understood why so many people are afraid of them. I want to go stay in a yayla! I bet the air is so fresh it makes you giddy. It is so pure that magic can still move freely, unemcumbered by the doubts of Humans whose imaginations have become stagnant and surpressed. So Glad to know the bees are alive and well in a safe place on our Earth. A wonderful choice for Freshly Pressed! Thanks!

Cat and Claire

Catherine de Medici Jaffee is a lunatic about honey culture in the Caucasus. You can most frequently find her jumping on a mountain, running from angry bees, cooking in villages, hitching on dirt roads, or joking with Turkcell about her internet woes.

Cat is joined by Claire, an artist, photographer, writer, and globe wanderer. You're most likely to find her upside down, yodeling from a mountaintop, making tragic mistakes in Turkish, or eating meat for Cat.

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